Ordinance 2921-06 - Laserfiche WebLink

CHAPTER 6 Figure 79. Participants in the public work sessions recommended extending Hewitt Avenue median and improvements west to the waterfront. The greatest urban spaces are street corners.... As a general rule, 100 percent conversations are spotted most often at the busiest crossroads locations.... Of 133 conversations we mapped over several days, 57 percent were concentrated in the highest - traffic locations. [Emphasis added.] William Whyte: The City S-3 Undertake a program to upgrade Connector Streets. Connector Streets merit relatively high priority because they are likely pedestrian routes in downtown. Many of the Retail Streets, such as Hewitt, Colby and Rucker have already been improved or are also given a high priority for improvement. Portions of the Connector Streets, such as eastern Wall Street have also been upgraded recently but other portions are in need of improved sidewalks, street amenities, and landscaping. The chart above identifies the proposed improvements for each roadway. S-4 Implement a downtown Street Tree Program. Cy Paumier of the Urban Land Institute has noted that street trees are one of the best public realm improvements a city can make. A coordinated program with an annual budget would be a practical and effective way to implement this measure. The highly visible Gateway Streets are high priority candidates for unifying street tree plantings. S-5 Implement over time the street improvements recommended in Table 3 but not otherwise noted in S-1 through S-4 above. There are numerous ways to fund and implement these projects. The City could require street improvements as part of new development (or, as recommended in the Land Use section, as a bonusable action to achieve greater height and bulk). Or, sidewalks and landscaping might be done as a small part of other in -street work, such as utilities improvements. Some streets, such as Wetmore, may merit a complete improvement project, while others might be done on an incremental basis. Street trees, relighting, and extended sidewalks at intersections (curb bulbs) are particularly valuable spot improvements when a full street reconstruction is too costly. Curb bulbs are especially valuable, particularly where there is heavy pedestrian traffic, because they not only increase safety, they add space at street corners, where, as William Whyte has pointed out, there is a lot of activity. MAKERS architecture and urban design 0509_rpt_draft.doc - 6/29/06